Fringe benefits taxation The case of company cars as fringe benefits in Sweden : The case of company cars as fringe benefits in Sweden

Sammanfattning: While fringe benefits create value in the employer-employee relationship, implicitly subsidized fringe ben-efits risk incurring economic deadweight losses. An increasingly common fringe benefit in Europe is the company car. Literature has showed how fringe benefits should be taxed for tax neutrality yet current taxations of fringe benefits cars in Europe have been found to cause significant deadweight losses. The prevalence of fringe benefits cars in Europe generally and Sweden specifically renders it relevant to in-vestigate how the taxation of fringe benefits cars affect economic welfare. Fringe benefits cars are also of interest for policy evaluations, both in their provision as fringe benefits in terms of equity as well as a means of transportation and climate change mitigation. Sweden has committed to ambitious GHG emission policy goals which directly relates the composition of the Swedish (company) car fleet. The thesis methodology was based on a Dutch framework for welfare equations and statistical methods such as regression analysis. Interviews were conducted with industry professionals to gain market insights and perspectives in the case of company cars. A deadweight loss was found as SEK 2 300 per fringe benefits car and the total market deadweight loss was estimated to SEK 186 million. The automobile market gives rise to many externalities and some fringe benefits car related were quantified. Internalizing a conservative externality estimate yields additional deadweight losses at SEK 425 per fringe benefits car. Many socioeconomic factors were found to be correlated with car expenditure, most of them positively: household income, age and a managerial like position. Gender as in female had a negative effect on car expenditure. The current taxation of fringe benefits cars (2014) is potentially problematic for Swedish policy goals concerning traffic safety, climate change and gender equity for three reasons. The current taxation of fringe benefits cars: (1) might have negative safety implications from a system perspective on traffic safety, (2) does not necessarily promote more environmental friendly cars on average and (3) is not gender neutral as women as a group has a statistically lower preference for expensive cars.